When you associate quality, luxury and road presense with a car its not uncommon to hear the word 'Bentley'. Sharpe shoulder lines, curved hips and a voice to die for are all things that come together to create a modern, sleek and desirable luxury coupe. The Bentley Continental GT was introduced in 2003 and ever since has been the luxury coupe to set the benchmark amongst other manufactures and even today, the first generation of GT still look as good as the later models. This Continental GT was brought to us for a pre-sale tidy up in order to maximise the resell value and help this one stand out to potential buyers. A pretty clean and well looked after vehicle upon arrival, with a few small requests from the owner to to make sure it was ready to be sold. So, onto the Mini-Detail..
The car was started by removing very light brake dusting from the wheels. A citrus pre-cleaner was used rather than a conventional wheel cleaner, this allows the light surface dust to be easily but safely removed without being excessively (and unnecessarily) harsh. A 1" Boar Hair detailing brush agitated the pre-cleaner before wheels and arches were thoroughly rinsed. Door & boot shuts were cleaned with a detailing brush also. The attention was then given to the body. Initially misting citrus pre-cleaner on such areas such as the nose, lower sides and the rear of the car to help breakdown surface dirt, a layer of foam pre-wash was then applied to the entire car and left to dwell for 3-4minutes. Window seals, grills and other intricate areas were agitated with a Boar Hair detailing brush.
Once pressure rinsed free of any foam and loose dirt, the car was moved onto the bucket wash using a deep-pile synthetic wash mitt and a pH neutral wash solution to gently but thoroughly cleanse away any remaining dirt from the paint surface. Once all areas were washed, a thorough rinse and any tar spotting was carefully removed. Very little was present but a few random specs were found and removed accordingly. The customer requested the eye-line panels (bonnet, roof & rear raising spoiler) receive a 'quick once over' by machine polisher. These sections were then clayed to ensure all contaminants were removed - as the customer is a detailing enthusiast himself the other panels were clean enough to not to need claying for the job at hand. A final rinse of the car and it was moved indoors.
The car was then dried down with a combination of drying towel and warm filtered air to ensure the car was completely dry. As requested, the eye-line panels were given a single stage machine polish using Koch Chemie F5 on a Lake Country CCS polishing pad. Using the trusty FLEX 3401 VRG dual action polisher, the lighter swirls were removed whilst the heavier marks were improved upon to leave the visual impact of the car far higher than before. IPA was used to remove any remaining polish oils and to check for any defects that needed a little more attention.
Once the eye-level panels were polished, the rest of the panels were simply polished by hand using an all-in-one product to cleanse, enhance and lay a perfect base for the wax to bond. A fresh microfiber was uses to buff away the residue once it had cured, a deep gloss was revealed underneath that looked fantastic under the lighting. Auto Finesse Illusion show-wax was then used to protect the paintwork. Chosen for Illusions dripping-wet looks, makes it the perfect wax to see this Bentley until the time it is sold - as the car is garaged and will now not be driven, it was decided that this detail would offer maximum aesthetic qualities over durability.
Once the wax was cured, another fresh microfiber was used to buff the residue away. The wheels were wiped free of any dust with a quick detailer before the tyres were dressed with Gyeon TIRE for its satin finish that compliments the perfect Bentley alloys covering freshly refurbished brakes. Arch liners were dressed with Auto Finesse Dressle at this point also. All glass was cleared of any waterspots, door shuts were wiped with a quick detailer and any plastic trims were dressed and protected back to a factory satin finish to finalise the Continental's pre-sale spruce up.